Ottawa council’s decision not to plow residential streets and sidewalks with less than seven cm of snow and maintain them in a “snow-packed condition” without grit or de-icing chemicals means seniors and disabled suburban residents are prisoners in our homes.

Even councillors must know that packed snow turns to ice. Four winter tires still slide on ice and two feet in ice-cleat boots still slip, causing falls and fractures.

Oh, that’s right: this city has other financial priorities for its two-per-cent property tax hike. I did not get a two-per-cent pension increase. Did you?

Clear the snow.

L.D. Cross, Ottawa

Who’s really paying for ‘pay for access’?

A couple of elections ago, the local Liberal candidate sent me a request for a donation to his campaign, outlining how little it would actually cost me after I obtained an income-tax deduction.

Perhaps one of your more enlightened readers can tell me whether or not the current “pay for access” system being practised by government ministers also allows for similar tax reductions for guests at these affairs. If indeed it does, does this mean that taxpayers are really the ones paying to provide wealthy donors direct access to the prime pinister and his cabinet?

Charles Morton, Manotick

Government has no right to sole-source jets

While there has been much debate over the government’s strategy to replace Canada’s fleet of CF-18s, one crucial point has largely been ignored. Namely, that the government’s decision to sole-source for 18 Super Hornets is illegal.

The government is wrong when it claims that an “urgent” need allows it to bypass competition. The specific wording in article 506.11(a) in the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) reads in part as follows: “Where an unforeseeable sense of urgency exists …”

Note the word “unforeseeable.” The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) has ruled that bad planning is no excuse for sole-sourcing. A “capability gap” that was allowed to grow over many years is hardly “unforeseeable.” The AIT article was designed to allow for sole-sourcing in the event, for example, that the government announced that it was sending our troops into a theatre of operation and there would be insufficient time to conduct competitions to provide the troops with the goods and services they require.

Holiday season is around the corner and children across Canada are putting the finishing touches on their Christmas wishlists. However, outside of Canada’s borders, millions of kids are living everyday without having their most basic needs met.

Thirty-five per cent of children under five are chronically malnourished, irreversibly damaging their cognitive abilities and locking them into a lifetime of poverty. Canada cannot do it’s part in making sure that children in need are given the opportunity to lead fulfilling lives if our contributions to Official Development Assistance sit at a pitiful 0.28 per cent of our gross national income, consistently falling short of the desired target of 0.7 per cent.

For every dollar invested in a child’s development, there is a return of $10 in their adult earnings, effectively breaking the cycle of poverty they were born into. Investing into early childhood development is not only necessary, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

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